The Baker And The Queen Pin

Chapter 57: Forgiveness

~~~Maria

"Can you forgive me?" I look at his phone, going across the phone. I had only dropped Belle off a few days and I'm quite sure she didn't talk to anyone so why is he calling? It's by the second ring that I decline the call. I feel myself, feeling guilty for declining the call but what could I say to him and would he even think about forgiving me?

At that moment, I get another call. The call is from Veronica. I answer the call with a calm, "Yes?" 'I'm sorry. I understand you've been going through a lot but we must talk now.' "Yes," I say to her. 'Firstly, we need you to understand that with Volkov's leave of absence, we need you to take over a bulk of his responsibilities.' "I understand." 'Also because of this, I also need you to understand that things like this can happen. If you're fully prepared to commit to the High Table, you will have to deal with these incoming betrayals. Until then, I recommend that you take a few days off from the job and repair whatever relationships you must repair. If you chose not to, I expect to see you sooner rather than later.'

"I understand." 'Excellent.' As she says this, I find myself, wondering what she means by that, I find myself curious as to how she could say something so cavalier in kind. I found myself, curious as to what kind of woman she was but I couldn't ask that question. Not now, I hardly knew the woman and what would I even say but something in me wanted me to go and get my affairs in order, something in me wanted me to go to him.

He knew me in so many ways and yet I knew I could hurt him, I knew I could do something devastating to him so did I want to hurt him in order to be happy? Did I want to risk them, Booker, Booker Junior, and Belle? Did I want to set myself up for failure? All of these questions raced through my head and yet I knew how much I loved him. I knew what I loved about him, I knew everything I loved about this man because he knew me. He knew me in the most intimate ways as I knew him.

It was then that I found myself, calling him. I found myself, wanting to talk to him and I did. 'Hello?' I hear his nervous voice after answering on the first ring. "Hello, Booker. Can we talk?" As I ask him in a sheepish voice, I hear him say, 'Yes. Where would you like to meet?' "My home. If you have time, we can talk there." 'Yes. We can meet there. Thank you.' I smile and say, "No problem. Is it okay if we meet today?" I ask him, calmly.

I could hear him smiling over the phone as he said, 'Yes.' "Alright. I'm 10 minutes from my house, I'll be there soon." I say to him and within moments, I hang up the phone so I don't embarrass myself. At that moment, I found myself, driving to my house. As I drive to my house, I found myself, waiting for him, waiting to see if he would park right in front of me so I couldn't leave, so I could spend my entire day with him.

It was then that I saw something that I shouldn't have. Someone was in my house. Who was it? As I got into the house, I found myself, armed with my gun and it was then that I see something that only could have happened to me. Someone had already been in my house. As I look around the house, I hear someone moving around upstairs. I slowly wait for them to come downstairs and as they begin to come downstairs, I hit them with the butt of my gun.

Her eyes trained on me and I saw who it was. "Volkov's whore," I say with a sneer. Blood's coming out of her mouth as she coughs up two teeth. Her eyes showed fear as she said, 'How did you get past-' And I turn around, and with one shot, I shot the girl in the stomach. I turn my gun back to her and I say, "I didn't, but thanks to you. I did." It's then that I hear her say, 'Do it. My life's ruined anyway. With Volkov dead, I don't have the life I once did and you just shot my best friend.'

As I begin to put the gun to her temple, I then hear Booker's shocked voice. 'Maria.'

~~~Booker

I stopped her from shooting a young lady so quickly. I don't know why, but I knew the truth. I knew Maria was not going to change, but I still wanted to be with her. I knew things could be different, but I still can't allow myself to let go of what's happened.